


In The Dark

by jesuiscalmedammit



Category: The Mandalorian (TV)
Genre: F/M, friends to lovers trope because i suck
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-07
Updated: 2020-12-07
Packaged: 2021-03-10 00:13:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,871
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27945104
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jesuiscalmedammit/pseuds/jesuiscalmedammit
Summary: Din assumed he was the only one who survived so he began to focus on finding the Child's home. But when a stranger saved their lives, he realized maybe it would have been nice if he had seen what the others looked like under their helmets back in the day. After all, it's awkward when you don't recognize your friend without her armor.
Relationships: Din Djarin/Reader, Din Djarin/You
Comments: 2
Kudos: 28





	In The Dark

“What are you doing down here?”

Letting out an annoyed groan, you put your hands on your hips and turned around to look at your host. “Looking for some clothes that aren’t soaking in my blood.”

You expected him to tell you where to find something to wear but he didn’t move. At all. Knowing him, not talking wasn’t surprising, but being this still was quite alarming. Had you crossed a line by going through his things? Well, it surely wasn’t polite but you were really just looking for clothes. Under different circumstances, he probably wouldn’t have a problem with that, but this was a special situation and you didn’t know when he would figure out the truth about you. Until then you were just a stranger to him.

When you saw his head move a little, indicating that he took a good look at your body, you finally realized what was wrong: you were in your underwear. Not seeing his face made it difficult to figure out what he was thinking about. Was he embarrassed? Shy? Confused? Or was his mind full of dirty thoughts? You hated being in the dark. You were used to it, but it didn’t mean you were comfortable with it. And then more silence followed and you began to feel anxious out of the blue. _Would you finally say something?_

“I should take a look at your wounds. I have a feeling you couldn’t really reach the one on your back,” he suddenly said.

Even though his voice wasn’t perfectly clear because of the helmet, you could still tell it was neutral. The fact you were almost naked apparently didn’t bother him. That was good. He clearly wasn’t planning to take advantage of the situation, although you had never really assumed he was that kind of man to begin with. Why it didn’t bother him, though, was a mystery, and for a moment you began to think about the possible reasons. Was he that experienced? Or was he just absolutely not interested in this kind of stuff?

In the end, you scratched the back of your neck to avert your thoughts. “Thanks, that would be great.” Nodding, he left for a short while to find what he needed to help then pointed at a big metal box. Once you sat down, he pulled something to sit on behind you and you heard him pack out the equipment. “Did you leave the little guy up there?”

“Yeah, but he’ll be fine.”

“You sure?” you asked as you pointed at the small creature who stood almost right in front of you. “He looks pretty interested in what we’re doing down here.”

An exasperated sigh escaped his lips before he moved to pick up the kid and put him somewhere he could keep an eye on him. “Stay here, okay?” he said before walking back to you. “Why do I have a feeling he’s gonna be a handful?”

“He’s still a child, that’s what they’re the best at.”

“I guess this means you have experience with them.”

You couldn’t help but laugh at the thought of this. “Oh, no, I usually try to avoid them,” you clarified.

The silence that followed your words made it quite obvious he was giving you a strange look under that shiny helmet of his. But once he cleared his throat, he returned to his previous spot behind you and you soon felt his gloved finger tracing your skin as he tried to figure out which bloodstain was covering an actual wound on your back.

Then he suddenly stopped, you felt another finger on your skin, and he said, “This wound is really nasty so I’ll have to clean and stitch it.” You nodded and waited while he picked up whatever he needed to do that. “Since it’s pretty deep, the cleaning part will hurt, but try to stay still, okay?”

When he put his palm on your stomach, you knew he only did it because he wanted to make sure you didn’t move around much from the stinging pain that awaited you. Despite knowing this, your body reacted without your brain’s consent and you let out a quiet hiss as you tried to move your upper body away from him. 

“I’m sorry, I–”

“No, it’s the vambrace,” you told him quickly, hoping he would understand that your reaction didn’t mean you found this inappropriate in any way. “It’s pretty cold, for some reason I wasn’t expecting it.”

“Oh.” You heard him stand up so you turned around to see what he was doing. Apparently, he decided to wrap the metal piece into some cloth he found and you were honestly grateful for him being this thoughtful. Others would have probably told you to stop whining. The next time he touched you, you didn’t even feel the cold metal anymore. “Better?”

“Yeah.”

“Great. You ready?”

Your pain threshold was high and you were used to pain, but this… This stinging feeling was the worst part of treating open wounds. Though you cursed under your breath and instinctively tried to get out of his hold, Mando held you firmly enough to keep you relatively still. Seconds felt like hours, and you were only snapped out of your thoughts by his soothing voice.

“Hey, it’s okay, it’s okay. Just try to take deep breaths. I’ll quickly stitch and bandage it then we’re done,” he said, waiting for you to nod before doing anything else.

The rest of the treatment was bearable and you didn’t move around that much anymore. When he finished, you turned around to be face-to-face with him. “Thank you. For everything,” you told him with a smile.

“Well, you helped us escape and they blew up your ship because of this so that’s the least I could do.”

Oh, your ship. Being around Mando again made you forget about that tiny little detail. Which wasn’t exactly tiny considering you had to travel somehow. You couldn’t just settle down at some randomly chosen place. But you had time to worry about that later, this is why you decided to learn about _his_ plans first. “Where are you going now?”

“I don’t really know yet,” he began with a sigh as he looked over at the kid. “I guess somewhere remote because we need to lie low for a while. Hopefully, they’ll stop searching for us soon.”

These guys stopping soon? Everybody was looking for this child, and the bounty on its head was high enough to keep them interested until the end. But you didn’t want to make him feel bad now so you decided to keep your opinion to yourself. A part of you was sure he had already known that, though, because he was everything but an idiot.

“Is something wrong?”

“Oh, no, I'm sorry,” you said as you looked back at him. “I just got lost in my thoughts for a moment.”

A low, humming sound left his throat. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“It's just…” How could you tell him? He wasn’t about to figure it out on his own so you had to tell him the truth. But it was hard. Then again, you wanted a normal conversation which meant he had to know. Once you let out a long sigh, you decided to get it over with. “I didn't know the voice modulator in my helmet worked so well that you wouldn’t recognize my voice without it.”

“What are you talking about?”

You couldn’t help but laugh. “We've known each other for a long time, Mando. I like to think of you as my only friend in the Tribe.”

This was the moment when he finally understood what was going on. When silence fell between you again, it wasn’t the same as before. You weren’t uncertain about what he was thinking about, you knew it perfectly well. And as you waited for him to say something, you couldn’t hide your wide, happy grin.

“Is it really you?” he asked cautiously. When you nodded, he stood up and began pacing in front of you. “But how? They all died.”

“I wasn’t there when it happened. By the time I returned, they were already gone. That's the only reason why I helped the two of you because I knew it was you, Mando.”

“Where’s your armor?”

It was a perfectly understandable question, after all, you hadn’t been wearing it when you met again. “It was on my ship but it doesn't matter anymore. I'm done with that life. I don’t need reminders of the past,” you informed him once your smile disappeared from your lips.

“Why?” Since you didn’t know how to answer, you shrugged. “So what, you want to settle down now?”

“I don’t know. Maybe.”

Once again you wished you could see his face under the helmet. But he was so loyal to the Tribe’s rules that you knew he wouldn’t take it off in someone else’s presence. So what could he be thinking? Was he happy? Was he mad at you? Could he hate you for not telling him sooner? Did he despise you for leaving your armor behind? And why was he so silent? _Just say something. Anything!_

“I still can’t believe it’s you,” he said quietly, finally breaking the silence.

Tilting your head to the side, you glanced over at the child who was still watching the two of you. “And I can’t believe you became a single dad.”

“I’m no–” He fell silent when he followed your gaze and looked at the little guy. “Maybe you’re right.”

“Do you what’s the best thing about this beskar armor of yours? I saw the pile of armors and immediately knew you were probably still alive,” you admitted out of nowhere.

“I saw the pile and thought you were dead,” he replied without hesitation and you could’ve sworn he sounded sad and maybe even a little relieved. He took a deep breath then went on. “I kind of understand why you want to leave that life behind. With all those rules we follow it’s… easy to become jealous of average people and their simple lives.”

“It’s not just that. Having to wear that helmet all the time makes it hard to do certain things.”

He thought about what you said but didn’t ask what you meant right away. But when he realized you weren’t about to elaborate on your own, he asked, “Did you fall in love with someone?”

“It’s not–It’s complicated,” you said, trying really hard not to tell him the truth. You wanted to be honest, but definitely not this honest. You had been in love with someone way before this tragedy happened, although he didn’t have to know that.

“All right, I won’t ask,” he said eventually. “Look, I have something for the pain, but it will probably knock you out. Do you want some?”

Sleeping sounded nice. This conversation turned pretty awkward pretty fast, but this way you would have some time to come up with a believable explanation. And you could also figure out what to do next. You didn’t have a ship. You had nowhere to go. It wasn’t an easy situation. “Yeah, that would be great.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i don’t know if i’ll continue this one or not, we’ll see. i just... had this idea and couldn’t get it out of my head. also, i haven’t started s2 yet because i want to binge-watch s1 and s2 together. so yeah, don’t think much about the timeline.


End file.
